Monday Edition

Get the Blog Feed
What is RSS?

dispatches from the new world of work

Woodstock Remembered

As the only member of Tompeters.com who went to Woodstock, I've been assigned to write the commemoration of its 40th anniversary. (Tom was too old, Erik was too young, and I was just right. Forget Shelley; that young talent was not even close to being born.) Also, I had a car to take me from my home in Massachusetts to the farmland of New York. And I had tickets, which as I left home with a friend, I had no idea would be irrelevant. What should we celebrate about Woodstock on this occasion? My choice is the shared optimism. It pervaded the gathering. Everybody spoke with everybody else as if they were old friends, or at least acquaintances. There was an all-encompassing air of "We're in this together." Sure, there were those who had "dropped out," but even that was from a sense that there had to be a better way than the prevalent practices among adults we knew then. We thought we could change the world. And we did. Is your life now, at the age of __, what you thought it would be then, at the age of __, and as a member of Woodstock Nation? (Even if you didn't get there.) And, if, like Erik and Shelley, you're too young to have been there, do you approach your career as if you can Change the World? Every day?

Cathy Mosca posted this on 08/15/09.

Comments

what makes you think you were the only one? or have I been kicked out of the club? :) I am older than you pal, and younger than Tom

Posted by mike Neiss at August 15, 2009 6:13 PM

Thanks for some of the most creative music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Jj3wZVc7nw

Posted by TrueLove at August 15, 2009 7:34 PM

It turns out Woodstock wasn't even the best festival that month in the same region. The Atlantic City Pop Festival (which RobCH reminded me of on the other Woodstock blog thread) took place 200 miles away two weeks earlier, with a better lineup (in my opinion) including: Booker T, BB King, the Byrds, Frank Zappa, Joni Mitchell, Cass Elliot, Little Richard, and many others. (Both shared some big names and Woodstock DID have Sly and Hendrix.)

Posted by John O'Leary at August 16, 2009 11:18 AM

"Do you approach your career as if you can Change the World? Every day?"

Good question Cathy - if we don't think we can change the world every day - whats the point in getting out of bed is my reply.

Posted by Trevor Gay at August 16, 2009 2:49 PM

Wow Cathy, we hear so much (especially at the moment) about the spirit of Woodstock; great to hear that you were part of it...

Posted by Ian Sanders at August 16, 2009 2:51 PM

Correction: it was Steven Levy who commented about the Atlantic City Pop Festival.

One of the lessons of Woodstock is the audience can be the star of the show. (It wasn't the bands that weekend, many of whom admitted they didn't play well.) But the turnout of 400,000 to 500,000 (unprecedented and unexpected) and their stunningly peaceful behavior was international news.

Posted by John O'Leary at August 16, 2009 8:40 PM

Thank you Frank Rich.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/16/opinion/16rich.html?pagewanted=2

Posted by zorro at August 16, 2009 9:15 PM

Thank you for making me think with your questions. Even though I am currently between positions, there are ways that I can and do "change the world."

Posted by Rodney Cooley at August 16, 2009 9:45 PM

Cathy;

Good morning

This blog can occasionally irritate (pencil and men v women!) however, its a post like yours that reminds me of what wonderful people are out there and what varied experiences we all have of life.

Simply, cool.

Patrick

Posted by patrick at August 17, 2009 2:28 AM

"...the audience can be the star of the show."

John, excellent observation. From a more pragmatic point of view, I know as a video producer that seeing the reaction and involvement of the audience is what actually shapes and conveys the tone and essence of the overall context and the content.

I recall when a guy from just up the road by the name of Alan Jackson sang a brand new, never before performed (much less released) song asking "Where were you when the world stopped turning that September day?" how the tears and silence of the audience made that much more than a performance. The thousands of faces -- people who appeared to be totally breathless as time seemingly stopped for a few moments -- told the whole story of a nation that was still in mourning and shock, traumatized by the unthinkable. Just seeing Alan Jackson perform the song would have been one thing. But it was seeing the people who were there and THEIR faces that seemed to pull people through the television to another place, as though we were right there with them.

Without that audience and the events that took place off the stage, Woodstock would have been... well, just another concert. Alas, it was much more. And to this day we are still in awe of what happened there and what it really stood for. Although it might have been dreamed up with different intentions, it turned out not to be about the music, but about a movement.

Some of the greatest world changing movements start out as something else. But when people are overtaken by the notion of something bigger than themselves -- indeed "inspired" -- magic happens.

Such was Woodstock. Maybe on a (much less) grander scale, I want my life and my work to be meaningful. I want my legacy to be quite simply "He wanted to make life a little better for at least a handful of others by having been here."

Everything we do -- even the tiniest things -- actually do change the world, because those things affect others. The question could (perhaps SHOULD) be revisited, and instead of asking "Do you want to change the world?" to one of "In what ways do you want to change the world?"

Positive? Or negative? What is our impact? None of us can exist in this world without having an impact on it. What we must decide is what impact we actually want to have. Act based on the answers to that question and suddenly life looks totally different. Our actions and their consequences suddenly don't appear random. They never are. We just foolishly think they are.

Posted by Dan Gunter at August 17, 2009 8:52 AM

"I want my legacy to be quite simply "He wanted to make life a little better for at least a handful of others by having been here."

Dan - Tony Benn my hero the former Labour Party MP for over 50 years and now 84 years young, was asked how he would like to be remembered. Tony replied:

"He encouraged us"

Brilliant!

Posted by Trevor Gay at August 17, 2009 10:14 AM

In an interview with Barbara Walters, General Schwarzkopf was asked what he wanted his epitaph to read. His answer (with virtually no hesitation):

"A good soldier who served his country and loved his family."

So, why is it that companies and organizations have to have such lengthy, oft forgotten mission statements, if just eleven words can so well communicate the sum and substance of a great man's whole life?

Maybe the answer to my own question is simply that "He's thought it out and already knows where his heart lies." It's not really hard to stay focused on your life's mission if it REALLY means something to you. But fancy words and eloquently stated goals and ideals are worthless -- meaning they make no worthwhile or well directed difference in the world -- if you don't first FEEL them.

Posted by Dan Gunter at August 17, 2009 10:23 AM

Trevor

Evening from a warm Warwick, a Tony Benn quote and hero, what more can I say other than I feel suitably encouraged.

Have a great evening

Patrick

Posted by patrick at August 17, 2009 11:58 AM

Cheers Patrick - there has been no better politician role model during my lifetime - Tony is simply a legend. Good men are few. I've had the great honour and pleasure of meeting Tony once or twice and spoken on the phone a couple of times and we communicate occasionally by email. The thing that impresses me most is his humility. He is far more interested in hearing what I am doing than talking about his life or achievements. A wonderful man. Hope that's suitably brief :-)

A wonderful evening here too in Wolston - just returned from a 10 mile cycle ride around wonderful Warwickshire!

Posted by Trevor Gay at August 17, 2009 12:48 PM

How to remember "Trevor" & his Woodstock spawned legacy my friends?

"Hold on tight my beloved - once we submerged Trevor in ice water & shocked him with electrodes to his private parts - then & only then did he confess to the 3rd Reich like decades of torture of NHS patients that he masterminded since a young seldom sober chain-smoking lad of 17. Other than that he was quite amusing." :>)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TLmpL2AzLs

Posted by TrueLove at August 17, 2009 6:22 PM

True Love - you know me so well and the real truth about me - it's like we are twin brothers - just to confuse TP Blog readers. Did your Dad travel? :-)

Posted by Trevor Gay at August 17, 2009 6:29 PM

A comment has been deleted due to poor taste.

Posted by Shelley Dolley at August 17, 2009 9:02 PM

Very beautiful posts and some excellent thoughts. Thanks for sharing with all of us.

Posted by Everything Counts at August 18, 2009 12:03 PM

Me me me - thanks Woodstock for the romantic notion and fantasy of the self indulgent me me generation - thanks a lot for the drug addiction culture going mainstream, today's rampant STD's via Woodstock "free love" incubation - and tinnitus & related ear damage because it was "cool" to play it and turn it up loud.

And thanks for not being accountable because you dropped out, turned on and lazily blew off some of the most energetic and productive years of your life.

And in 2009 we see many of those grown Boomers have taken us down again - financially this time.
To me by the measures that count - the Woodstock generation really does not measure up - except for some of the most creative music.

Meanwhile the true cool age of the early 60's JFK era - has "Mad Men" as the most popular show. Beautiful attention to detail in their clothes, actions, recreation.

And today young people like Heidi Montag go for it in entertainment - she of the latest Playboy cover & mention of making love all day as a Christian married to Spencer Pratt.

The stoned generation in their tie dyes and denim bell bottoms with denim workshirts - can't touch that - never could.

PS - Playboy is a liberal bastion even before Woodstock - with Christie & Hef enriching beautiful women - to exploit men's (& some women's) love for their divine gift - for close to 60 years.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2c4L4CPfQY8

Posted by TrueLove at August 19, 2009 5:23 AM buy generic viagra online in australia

Getout !! you were there ?? Cathy, lucky you.. something to talk about eh ?

Posted by /PD at August 19, 2009 10:17 AM

Cathy's comment and John's and Dan's above about the audience made me think of election night 2008 in Grant Park, Chicago, where it seems there was a similar "all-encompassing air of 'We're in this together'" -- making history.

buy female viagra canada

Posted by Lynn Stevens at August 19, 2009 11:38 AM

Lynn, you obviously share in the realization that even the greatest accomplishment, deed, or performance by any living human being is nothing if it elicits no heartfelt reactions by others. For instance, Gandhi was but another human being. He could have laid on the ground or refused to move all day in the name of "passive resistance." Yet what he did led others to react and in turn act in ways that brought an entire empire to its knees. Without that reaction, he would have been yet another quiet, unnoticed person in an impoverished nation.

buy viagra in toronto

One molecule of water moving about can not become a wave if it doesn't affect other molecules of water, can it?

Posted by Dan Gunter at August 19, 2009 4:29 PM

Mike, I had you in mind when I mentioned members of Woodstock Nation who didn't happen to be at the farm that weekend. I appreciate all the encouragement here in the comments. I was afraid I was going to be charged with seeing the experience through a rosy filter, because, as John pointed out in his post, the spirit of oneness didn't last long. I wanted only to describe the feeling of the moment, and I'm glad that you all reacted to that part of the post. It's great that the discussion has gone on to include other such moments. Keep it up, y'all!

Posted by cathy mosca at August 20, 2009 8:14 AM